Thanks to an acceleration of “just-in-time” hiring by companies across a range of business sectors, some recent MBA graduates are once again finding they can be choosy when it comes to accepting a job offer, according to a recent report by the Financial Times.
“There’s been a flurry of activity in the past few weeks,” Robert Weiler, director of career services for UCLA’s Anderson School of Management, told the FT, as many companies hire graduates just in time to fill sudden manpower demands.
After last year – one of the most dismal hiring years for MBAs in recent history – the change is a welcome one that allows graduates to be more discriminating in their job searches. “The students have learned to expect the worst after all they’ve gone through, but from what I’ve seen most are ploughing ahead and are optimistic that they will get what they want,” Weiler told the FT. “There’s not a ton of people settling.”
Indeed, thanks to the recent ramp up in “just-in-time” hiring, business schools across the United States are reporting that employment figures have risen significantly from last year’s levels. At Stanford Graduate School of Business, for example, second-year job postings are up 67 per cent from last year and job postings for alumni are up 35 per cent, according to Pulin Sanghvi, director of the school’s career management center.
At New York University’s Stern School of Business, Assistant Dean of Career Services Pamela Mittman told the FT that she expects numbers to be better than last year, when 80 per cent of students had secured a job within months of graduation. And at UCLA Anderson, Weiler expects the number of MBAs with jobs upon graduation this year to be much closer to the usual placement figure of 85 percent, “significantly ahead” of last year’s 51 percent figure.
The encouraging employment statistics reflect not only economic recovery, but also redoubled efforts by business school career service officers to help their students land jobs, the FT reports. Like last year, career services officers have been cold calling recruiters and putting on more networking events and career fairs. This year, though, they have gone to even greater lengths at some schools – increasing technological capabilities to connect recruiters with students virtually, calling on recent alumni to serve as career coaches and working more with international students for whom tighter visa limitations have created challenges.
For the full FT story, click here.
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